Shade roller



H. BLEIBTREU SHADE ROLLER Oct. 21, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Jun 27,1950 INVENTOR. wit? Oct. 21, 1952 BLElBTREu 2,614,629

SHADE ROLLER I I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 27 1950 33 nvwszvron MW I "shaderoller and the mechanism;

Figs. 3, 4 and Patented 0a. 21, 1 952 i 2,614,629- a I SHADE ROLLER,Hermann' Bleibtreu;-"Hinsdale; 111:, assignor to" Joanna-Western' MillsCompany, a cormiration of Delaware r 7 Application Ju eau; 1950, 'se

' eomims, (o1. ltd- 297) "I l Q J v f i This invention relates to shad'e'rollers,-.and has for its principal objects to simplify the. .con.struction, reduce'the number of parts. and the cost of manufacture, andto.=insure certainstable locking an adjusted position withquicltreelease -for readjustment. v I

Generally speaking, 1 this is accomplished replacing the familiarpawl'and ratchet mechaa nism 'with-a special' 'ball or tumbler clutchillus-v trated in the drawings, inwhich:

"Fig. l is a longitudinal section :Fig. 2 isa erspective view ofthefiized shaft received within the hollow. end of the shade" rollerandcooperating with the rewinding spring through the 7 fl 'Fig's. 3? 4,and5 arefrontelevation'and per-r v sp'e'cti've' {iiews'of'opposite sidesof a clutch' 'ort tumbler. 'pla'tei forming partof' the mechanism! Figs;6, 7, and 8 areldiagrams ofithe clutchmechanism showing'certain designlimits that may give faulty locking likely to be followedby,

involuntary release; and F'igs. 9-13 are similar preferred design andillustrating-the correctness of the locking togetheriwiththe freedom'iorreleases.v m v f1 The-familiar shaderollerindicated by ID is equippedwith a customary spindle ll; and if'e'r rulefl l2rat the-right endinFig. 1;

Adjacent to the left 'endfltheroller 1 ha s3 bore 13 provided with areduced extension'l l. r

) The bore receives a'shaft. I6 (Fig.2) having its projectingtend'fiattened at' II to fit in the familiar 'formwall bracket by whichthe shaft-is made fast in a fixedposition;

c Theshaft 16 has a hollow cylindrical: portionl8' telescoped with awoodenpin l9 slotted I at the inner end 20 toreceive' the-.bent endportion 2:|i:'of"ahelic'al spring 22 the. outer endzof whichismadefast'to the outerend of the roller-"lll.

The-1 shaft V I6 "being fixed and the spring connectedbetween and actingbetween its inner end and the "outer'end of the shade roller, the springacts to rotate the roller to raise theshade'from any selectedlowerpositi'o 1 The-iner end of the wooden pin'20 fits into the reducedextension 14 0f the bore "I3 in the roller; p The-outer end of-the"roller"l0 is equipped with a familiar ferrule which substantiallycloses the end Qf-t'he shade roller and holds the "clutch;

mechanism; shaft; and spring in place;

a The sh'aft lfiis provided with a c indrica balljor tumbler race, 23recessed at 247m opposite" places to provide'locking shoulders 25 tocooperate with ballsor-tumblers 26.

The end of the shade roller i0, is, equipped with a clutch plate or Jtumbler, plate, shown in and indicated generally by 21. It includes acircular'flat port on 28 having studs 29 struck from it to'be drivendntothe end-ofv the shade roller and form a drivingmonnection betweentheplate and the roller., r

1 it} also has opposite eyes 30" struck thr'bugn which the outerconvolution of the diagrams showing -the Neil 70,657

@ spring 22 is threadedzandmade. fas tr'by-bendin over against one ofthose eyes.

ment serves to connect: the outer. end: ofithe' This arran e-.

spring. to the. outer endi'of the shade; rollerthrough the clutch plate.7

The. 'flat,, disk-like portion; 28: is; also provided with. a flange: orcollar. 3| which surrounds;,jthe cylindrical portion of the shaft; justinwardly; of therace 2.3, and serves as a. bearing ,for: the; roller, onthe shaft, v :v v

The clutch, plate 21: iswalso provided with s'paced-;1obes;32 projectingover the ballor-tum-, bler race.23.and cooperating with the .bal1,s,2;6.

Each lobe 32 is provided with a tumbler-lifting flank 33 and. a tumblerlockingflankfll spaced; circumferentially from the correspondinefl nksofthe-other; v

Betweenthetwo flanks, each lobe has' a circular :wall 35 overlying the?circum ference of; the ball or. tumbler race23- with-working clearance.-.In,the diagram shown in Fi -V J,: he, Par s, appear in spa positionthey assume as the shade; cord 3;;6 is drawn downwardly-toljowertheishade; and-one of the'balls '26- is-being-pushedup-pver therace 23 by-theliiting-flank 33x31 the right Asqthe shade cord is pulleddownwardly. from the position shown in Fig. 9, the parts proceed to :thepositions shown in Fig; 10, v which the 1ifting-fiank33has, movedtheball lfi'beyond the crest 3:! 'oi' the race, and it has run down-as, Iindicated in thedotted line, to a position with r in the recess-24betweenthelocking shoulder 25.

on the race and-thelocking fiank 34 ontheadjacent lobe 32. 1 g,

Ifthe downward movement of the shade cord 36 is continued from the.position shown in Fig. 10 through th'e position shown in'FigQll, theballs proceed to the position shown in; that figure- 1c t, if the pulltheshade cord 36 inFig. 1Q isfrelaxed, the spring 22 will rotatethefshade roller clockwise, as indicated in Fig; 12;a'n dja ball 26 willbe caught between the lockirigjflahk 34-and the locking shoulder 25 inasecure position, which will retain the shade until it,is purposelyreleased.

The-release is accomplished by pulling thecord 36 down again and quicklyslackening. it, with the result that the rewinding spring will spinlthe.

roller clockwise and by centrifugal force throw the ball 26 clear ofthelocking shoulder 25, as illustrated inFig'. 13. a n,

, Referring now to Figs. 6, 7, and 3, in which the fiank 33 is replacedby a lifting fianklll parallelto the locking flank 34 andjspaced fromit. an effective distance'iless than that shown in Figs. 9 -12;: ,Itwill be observed that when the parts move from Fig. 6 totheYpositionshown i Fig. 7,'th'e ban .26 g0ihg over the crest cream reach a positionbetween the locking flanki l and the lockingf'shoulder 25, whenther'eisno room forit to properly seat in therecess 24 but is caught. infalabilevposition fromfwhich in; voluntary release may take place, u'p o nsome slight vibration-caused by wind or footsteps,

Fig. a similar faulty locking position of one of the balls.

The faults of Figs. 6, 7, and s are completely l removed by thearrangement shown in Figs.-

td provide-a downwardlyl facing tumbler locking shoulder in an upperquarter, a tumbler on the I race, a shade roller telescoped over androtatable locking flank 34 to insure that the ball 26 passing the crest31, as shown in Fig. 10, will fall beyond the locking shoulder and enterthe recess 24, as shown in Fig. 10, in time to effect the proper lockingwhen the shade cord .is slack, as=illustrated in Fig; 12. I w IThespacing indicated in Figs. 9-13 is more than required, but has. beenfound satisfactory in practice. 1 Tests with a transparent enlargedspecimen having some lobescorre'sponding to those shown in Figs. 6, 7,and 8 demonstrated a need for spacingcorresponding to that shown inFigs..9-13,'

and it was found advantageous to make the about the shaft, a rewindingspring connected to and acting between the shaft and the roller, atumbler plate fast to the roller, and a tumbler v lifting shoulder and atumbler locking shoulder formed on .7 the tumbler plate and overlappingthe race with the tumbler between them, said lifting flank 33substantially radial. The lock- 7 ing flank 34 was retained in theinclinedposition with respect'to' a ra-dius to better insure the lockingrelation shown inFig. 12 and prevent elastic reboundfromeffecting aninvoluntary'release, but the incline shown is not indispensable.

Tests with the same specimen indicated that with the flattenedportiondlarranged to hold the shaft with the diameter through its longerdimension in a-vertical' position, arranging the locking shoulders 25 atdegrees to thatdiameterincreased the ease with which the. balls 26 wouldbe released-and centrifugallyejected beyond the locking-shoulder, butthat position rod [9 byeither crimping or a spline.

" The clutch plate 28 is readily formed up from sheet metal strips,either low carbon galvanized stee'lfor spring'steel. Specimens oftheformer have withstood 20,000 operations without showingappreciablewear,"

If'cla'imz I f 1. In a shade roller mechai'i'is' of the class described,'a shaft having means"; for fixing it in axially horizontal position, atumbler race onthe shaft having an upper crest'andrecessed toprovide adownwardly facing tumbler locking shoulder substantially midway of anupper quarter, a tumbler on therace, a-shade roller telescoped over androtatable about the shaft, a

rewinding spring connected to and-jactingbetween the shaft andtheroller, 'a tumbler plate fast to the roller, and spaced lobes, on thetumbler plate overlapping the tumbler race,- each presenting to thetumbler a lifting and a' locking fiankfthe locking-flank of 'each lobebeing spaced from the liftingIflank'of the other lobe more than thetumbler locking shoulder isfspaced from said upper crest of the'tumblerrace.

2. In' a shade roller mechanism of the class described, a shaft havingmeansfor' fixing it in axially horizontal, position, a""tunjlbler" raceon the shaft having an upper 1crest "and recessed tumbler plateshoulders being spaced circumferentially farther apart than the spacingbetween theupper crest, and the downwardly facing locking shoulder onthe tumbler'race. v

.3. In a shade roller mechanism-of the' class described, a shaft having,means for fixing it in axially horizontal position, a tumbler race onthe shaft having an upper crest and recessed to provide a downwardlyfacing tumbler locklngshoulder in an upper quarter, .a tumbler on therace, a shade roller telescoped over {and rotatable about the shaftjarewinding spring connectedto and acting-between theshaftand the roller,a tumbler plate fast to the roller, and a tumbler lifting shoulder and atumbler locking shoulder formed on the .tumblenplate and, overlappingthe race withv the tumbler between them, said tumbler plateshoulders'beingspaced;angularly farther apart than the angular spacingbetween the upper crest and. the downwardly facing locking shoulder onthe tumbler race.

. 4..In a shade roller mechanism of the class described, a shafthavingmeans for. fixingit in axially horizontal positiom atumblerpraceqon thei-shaft having, an upper. crest and recessed belowthecrest to provide a, downwardly facing tumbler locking shoulder, atumbleron the race,

a shade roller telescoped over and rotatableabout the shaft, arewinding. spring connected to and acting between, the :shaft andtheroller, and a tumbler plate fast to the roller and having a tumblerlifting .shoulderand a tumbler locking shoulder overlapping the 'racewith the tumbler between them, the tumbler. plate locking shouldersupporting the tumbler in the tumbler race recess beneath the downwardlyfacing shoulder thereof when the tumbler dropsfromthe crest in responseto movement:.-imparted. by the :lifting shoulden,

. 5'. The combination claimed in claimcl, in which th angle of thetumbler plate locking shoulder relativeto the radius of the shaft movesthe tumbler intherecess intoflocking engagement between said shoulderand the downwardly facing shoulderof the race upon rewinding rotation ofthe roller. 1

6 The combinationclaimed in claim 4, in which the angle,of --.the.tumbler plate locking shoulder relative to the radius of the shaft movesREFERENCES oiran The'following references are of record in the.

i of h [patent UNITED s'rA TEs PATENTS Number P? Name Y Date 1,013,532Carmany Jan. 2, 1912 1,019,653 Kaiserm'an Mar; 5, 1912

